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There are a few animal types that reoccur in the Sixains. I have found that when the Sixains are applied to only the House of Capet that there is a consistency in what the animal types are used to represent:
The Wolf: Almost always this refers to the Duc de Mayenne.
The Elephant: I have not seen this refer to anything or anyone other than Felipe III of Spain.
The Leech: Usually Felipe II of Spain, who was known in France as the Leech of the Midi.
The Griffon: Henri IV of France.
The Crocodile: A servant of Spain, especially when operating against France. It first stood for Alexander Farnesse, the Duke of Parma and a loyal servant to Spain. Later it stood for the Jesuit Order, an order that for a long while operated more in the interests of Spain than in the interests of the Catholic Church.
There is also a single term, medicin which also applies. Usually it is medicine but it here finds a better expression as Medician, i.e. Marie de Medici.
Siecle nouveau, alliance nouvelle,
Un Marquisant mis dans la nacelle,
A qui plus fort des deux l’emportera,
D’un Duc d’un Roy, gallere de Florance,
Fort à Marceil, Pucelle dans la France.
Minor note: While these are called the Sixains, this one is more properly called a Quintain, or a five lined poem.
A Marquisate is the lands and dignity of a Marquis. Marcel may refer to St. Marcel. If so, it could refer to the town in the Aosta Valley region of Italy. Of course, it could also refer to one of many Saint-Marcels in France, all of them named after Saint Marcellus. Mentioned are Florence and the Maid in France. The Maid in France refers to a woman who is a maid, without issue.
This refers to the marriage between Henri IV and Marie de Medici, which occurred in October 1600. Marie is the one of Florence. Her father was Francesco l de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. As such, she had the dignity of a Marquise, which was considered inferior only to that of a duke, though often roughly equivalent. She is also the maid; she was reputably still a virgin when she married Henri. Marcel here stands for all the French Saint-Marcel’s. It is also a play on the name of Marseilles, the port in France where Marie de Medici first set foot in France. She had traveled to France from Florence in a small boat that quickly took her to her destination.
Note: While the century started in the year 1601, popular opinion stated that the century started in the year 1600. This is similar to what occurred in modern times, as modern popular opinion claimed that the 21st Century and 3rd millennium started in the year 2000. Nostradamus would be more interested in people understanding the quatrain then in being precisely correct, so the first line is quite accurate when one takes into account the popular opinion.
Que d’or d’argent fera despendre,
Quand Compte voudra Ville prendre,
Tant de mille & mille soldats,
Tuez, noyez, sans y rien faire,
Dans plus forte mettra pied terre,
Pigmee ayde des Censuarts.
The Pygmy strongly indicates a person whose natural height is very small. Normally this would refer to a dwarf or a midget. Likely the person is from Africa or India, where I have heard of such people. Here it refers to someone whose moral or political stature is small, a moral pygmy. I cannot think which individual it is though.
La Ville sans dessus dessous,
Renversée de mille coups
De canons : & forts dessous terre :
Cinq ans tiendra: le tout remis,
Et lasche à ses ennemis,
L’eau leur fera apres la guerre.
I must leave this one to the reader. Keep in mind that the interpretation must tie to the Royal Family or it must be something of great interest to them and then only while they were in power. In other words, nothing about the operations of China or the United States.
D’un rond, d’un lis, naistra un si grand Prince,
Bien tost, & tard venu dans sa Province,
Saturne en Libra en exaltation :
Maison de Venus en des croissante force,
Dameen apres masculin soubs l’escorse,
Pour maintenir l’heureux sang de Bourbon.
The happy blood of Bourbon demands the vert gallant, Henri IV of France. Dameen is a word, most likely a name that I cannot translate at the moment, though it could refer to Mayenne which is similar. Saturn is exalted in Libra, the sign ruled by Venus. During Henri’s reign, Saturn was in Libra from December of 1597 to October or 1600. This refers to the time when Henri finally succeeded in ending the Religious Wars that had ravaged France for three decades, as actually happened. The papacy had recognized Henri and negotiated a treaty of peace between France and Spain. The Duc de Mayenne had surrendered and been forgiven by Henri, after having first been forced to march at a very fast and, for the Duc, exhausting pace with the active Henri in his garden. As for the first two lines, they do apply to Henri. He was very young when he became king of Navarre, was older when he became king of France, but, as events proved, had to age somewhat and convert to Catholicism before France accepted him. He was both early, insofar France did not accept him fast enough for its own sake, and late, as he was not able to control the passions of the French for years until he became the king, and even then it was a struggle.
Celuy qui la Principauté,
Tiendra par grand cruauté,
A la fin verra grand phalange :
Par coup de feu tres-dangereux,
Par accord pourroit faire mieux,
Autrement boira suc d’Orange.
The sixth line is the clue. The House of Orange was the house founded by William the Silent. It governed the United Provinces off and on for several centuries, and even attained the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland under William III of Orange who became William III of England.
The one is Louis XIV. The atrocity was Louis’s love of war. Louis was perfectly fitted to the roll of an absolute monarch. But as he would later admit on his death bed, he had too fond a love of war. During the early years he had been generally successful, mainly because he did not have to worry too much about Spanish opposition and he saw English remaining neutral under first Charles II and then James II. However, his designs produced a most deadly enemy. William III of Orange was made the Stadtholder of the United Provinces whose wife, Mary, was heir to the crown of England. Louis thought he could get whatever he wanted. If he had heeded Nostradamus’s injunction to make an agreement with the Dutch, the first of the two major wars he would have to face, the War of the League of Augsburg, might not have happened, and the second, the War of the Spanish Succession, would have been very different. At the very least, he would have defeated Austria by himself during the question of the Spanish Succession, rendering it a short war. However, he antagonized William greatly, who formed the League of Augsburg. Then, after Louis went into Germany, William went into England and got James II to flee. Crowned king of England, Scotland and Ireland, William brought the island kingdom into the war. This guaranteed that England would send John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, to fight Louis in the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis had literally made the “Juice of Orange,” now he had to drink it.
Quand de Robin la traistreuse entreprise,
Mettra Seigneurs & en peine un grand Prince,
Sceu par la Fin, chef on luy tranchera :
La plume au vent, amye dans Espagne,
Poste attrappé estant dans la campagne,
Et l’escrivain dans l’eaue se jettera.
Note on Interpretation: I am in debt to Theophilus de Garenciéres for this. He gave a very long, multi-page interpretation complete with history explaining this sixain. My researches verified enough of this for me to know it is the right interpretation.
This Sixain deals with two events that occurred in about the same time. The first refers to the treachery of a friend of Henri’s, the other refers to the treachery of a highly placed and very important servant.
Robin is an anagram for Biron. This refers to Marshal Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron, a friend of Henri IV. Biron, not the most dependable of friends to Henri, tried to betray France to Spain. His agent was Lafin (la Fin of line 3) who confessed all. Henri tried to spare his friend, he was even ready to give him a full pardon if Biron confessed all. To his eternal shame, Biron denied his complicity to Henri even when the King (Plume in the wind) asked him bluntly what the truth was and presented some evidence to his guilt. Biron stupidly kept his allegiance to Spain and was justifiably executed for treason.
The last two lines, and part of the 4th, refers to the escrivian, which is a high servant. Nicholas l'Oste was the High Secretary to Lord VIlleroy, the Secretary of State under Henri IV. He left the service to Villeroy to serve as Secretary to Lord Rochepot, the Ambassador to Spain. He mastered the Spanish language to perfection. However, when he did not receive an award he arrogantly thought he deserved, he grew angry and decided to betray his people. His plot was discovered and in Paris, at the office of the Postmaster, Oste was arrested. He escaped and, after a roundabout chase, was thrown from his horse. He still found a way to run and, either intentionally or accicently, threw himself into the Marne River where he drowned. This happened soon after Biron was executed.
La sangsue au loup se joindra,
Lors qu’en mer le bled defaudra,
Mais le grand Prince sans envie,
Par ambassade de lui donnera
De son bled pour lui donner vie,
Pour un besoins’ en pourvoira.
This is the Sixain that could have been attributed to Hitler and Mussolini. The first line would have made the Sixain relatively obvious. The wolf would have been Adolf Hitler. Adolf means Noble Wolf, and Hitler knew it. The leech would have been Mussolini. He did not jump into the war until he knew that France was defeated. He was convinced that Britain was on the brink of ruin. However, the village in the sea, Britain, and its capital London, held on, fighting with increasing strength. Hitler would spend time in his holes, the various lairs he established, ending his days in the bunker. His needs, simple enough, were provided. However, the ambassador would be tricky to find an answer for.
Yet the Sixains deal with the house of Capet. In this case, it deals with two of Henri de Navarre’s fiercest opponents. The leach is Felipe II of Spain. He tried to drain the life out of France to make himself the strongest ruler in Europe. The Duc de Mayenne was the wolf. After Henri was declared king, Spain openly sided with the Catholic League, lead by the Duc de Mayenne. By the efforts of forces from Spanish Flanders, lead by the governor of Flanders, the Cardinal Archduke Albert, the city of Calais, the village by the sea, was captured after a stiff fight. Elizabeth of England, suddenly concerned about the Spanish being in control of Calais, sent an embassy to Henri, offering to help recapture the city if Henri would let the English govern it. Henri politely, firmly and pointedly, declined. True to the last line, Henri’s needs were given him during his long ordeal. It was soon after that Mayenne was reconciled to Henri.
Un peu devant l’ouvert commerce,
Ambassadeur viendra de Perse,
Nouvelle au franc pays porter :
Mais non receu, vaine esperance,
A son grand Dieu sera l’offence,
Feignant de le vouloir quitter.
According to Theophilus de Garenciéres, in 1608 the Turks and the Persians were at war with each other. The Persian Sultan sent embassies to all the princes of Europe, but his chief hope was with Henri of France. He hoped that the princes of Europe would attack the Turks, creating a diversion that would divide Turkish attention. In the case of the French, this would have meant breaking their alliance with the Turks, an alliance that was exceptionally beneficial to them – especially after the Turkish defeat at Lepanto when the Turks went to great lengths to give the French numerous benefits. Not one of the European princes took him up on the offer. The ambassador, considering this to be an injury to Allah and to Mohammed, returned to his home.
Deux estendars du coté de l’Auvergne,
Senestre pris, pour un temps prison regne,
Et une Dame enfants voudra mener,
Au Censurat mais découvert l’affaire,
Danger de mort murmure sur la terre,
Germain, Bastille frère & sœur prisonnier.
There are many Bastille’s in France, for bastille means fortress. This one concerns a bastille, a fortress. But it is not the famous Bastille that fell in Bastille Day, but another, the Temple Prison, where the family of Louis XVI resided.
The quotes of Auvergne refers to Saint-Just, Robespierre’s right hand man and the real brain behind the most important document to come out of the Revolution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Yet in spite of these idealized words, it was the savagery of the prisons and la Guillotine that ruled. Danger was throughout the whole land. Anyone whom Robespierre even thought was a traitor was executed.
The Censurat, the Condemning Organization, was the Committee of Public Safety, which was not much more than a body that served Robespierre and Saint-Just.
The lady’s children were Louis-Charles and Marie-Theresa, the two surviving children of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Of course, this ties it to the Bourbons and the house of Capet.
And the German? That is open to interpretation. I personally believe it to be Marie Antoinette. Her German name was Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Hapsburg-Lothringen. She was an archduchess of the Germanic state of Austria before she became Queen of France.
Ambassadeur pour une Dame,
A son vaisseau mettra la rame,
Pour prier le grand medecin :
Que de l’oster de relle peine,
Mais en ce s’opposera Royne,
Grand peine avant qu’en voir la fin.
This has to refer to Marie de Medici, the inclusion of medecin in the third line can only refer to Medician, i.e., the wife of Henri IV. While I am not completely certain, this sounds remarkably like an embassy between Queen Marie de Medici and Cardinal Richelieu who was even then becoming the most important person in France. The facts I am looking at are simple. Queen Marie de Medici was in conflict with her son, Louis XIII. She had escaped from an exile in Blois and had taken refuge in the castle of Angouleme. Rhchilieu had negotiated a peace between king and mother. But the queen eventually opposes the deal and with the aid of Gasdon d'Orléans, resumed the struggle only to be exiled.
The trouble referred to in the last line is that of Gaston d'Orléans, Henri and Marie's younger son. He would oppose Richilieu again then participate in the Fronde, eventually being exiled to Blois till he died. He had no particular loyalty and his actions here foreshadowed his future actions.